Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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irish in the pros John Axford Enjoys World Series Experience By Andrew Owens L ate in the 2013 Major League Baseball season, well after the Milwaukee Brewers fell out of contention, they dealt former Notre Dame reliever John Axford (2002‑05) to St. Louis in a move that bolstered the Cardinals' bullpen. Not only did the 30-year-old avoid a losing season in Milwaukee, but the move also allowed him to experience a run to the World Series this October. "It does not seem like the same season for me," Axford told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the August trade. "So much has happened. The season itself is so long, with spring training and everything. We had the World Baseball Classic. It just doesn't seem the same to me. "I've been here for two months now and have gotten to know these guys real well and be accepted into the Cardinal family." Axford lost his role as the Brewers' closer in the second week of the season, but he adjusted well to his new duties and was seen as an attractive late-innings option for St. Louis. In 13 regular-season outings with the Cardinals, he was 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA, 11 strikeouts and just three walks in 101⁄3 innings. He allowed one run and fanned nine in five and two-thirds innings of work over six appearances in the postseason on a Cardinals team that topped the Pittsburgh Pirates and Axford was 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 16 innings over 19 relief appearances (13 regular season and six postseason) for the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. photo by Scott Rovak/courtesy St. Louis Cardinals. Los Angeles Dodgers to advance to the World Series. "It's absolutely incredible, it really is," said Axford, who pitched against the Cardinals in the 2011 National League Championship Series that was won by St. Louis in six games. "It's hard to describe, in all honesty. "It was tough to lose that game [to the Cardinals in 2011], to know that you had a good team, but you couldn't quite make it. Now I'm on the other side, and we got there. … It's hard to describe how good [the postseason run felt]."